A manifesto for all women

Women are the majority of Malta’s population. Yet for most of our history we were largely bystanders; there but not there. Since its establishment, the Labour Party has worked to address this.

The manifesto Int Malta is another clear step in this direction. Amongst its targets one finds a commitment to halve the gender gap in employment rates and to be amongst the three EU countries that have the lowest gender pay gap. Over recent years we have managed to make a lot of progress in reducing employment gaps, in delivering effective social policies and changing women’s lives for the better. The manifesto includes many proposals that will keep pushing forward down this path.

For the first time Malta will have a national strategy for women’s health, with the establishment of the first women’s health clinic devoted to addressing gender inequalities in health provision. PCOS, endometriosis and adenomyosis are three conditions that affect our girls but on which there is little awareness yet. We will work to change this, and provide for the first-time free medication on the national health service for these conditions. A new Labour government will also introduce a fast-track referral system for suspected endometriosis or adenomyosis because young women need to be supported and not ignored.

Menopause is a phase of life of every woman. Yet discussing it is a taboo, just like it was a taboo to discuss menstruation. Our campaign End the Stigma has started to change this, and we want to do this with menopause also. We will be offering hormone replacement therapy for free on the national health service, and will be introducing guidelines to develop a workplace policy to support women passing through this phase. At the same time, we will expand the free menstrual product machine programme from secondary to post-secondary schools.

If given a new mandate, we will accelerate our efforts to eradicate cervical cancer. We will be distributing self-screening swab tests and offer the HPV vaccine to all women below 35. There will be a new national screening centre from where we will expand screening services, including reducing the age for breast cancer screening to 45 years.

Labour has already made many changes to address domestic violence. But this is not enough. Thus, if elected again, we will carry out stronger measures and boost resources to combat domestic violence, including prevention campaigns in schools. We will be introducing an additional five days of fully paid leave for victims of domestic violence, to enable them to access services, relocate and protect themselves. At all stages of court proceedings, we will aim to try to minimise re-traumatisation by ensuring that victims testify via video-conferencing at all stages.

Women, especially girls, are however facing new challenges online. Abuse online is increasing and therefore we will be introducing legislation against image-based abuse and abusive deepfakes. We will introduce a revenge porn helpline and carry out education campaigns to make sure that everyone is aware of how to properly use social media.

Int Malta is truly a manifesto for mothers. We are proposing 20 additional hours of antenatal leave for pregnancy related medical visits and 20 hours leave for adoption related medical visits. The manifesto also includes a massive extension of parental and maternity/paternity leave, supporting women’s work–life balance. Maternity leave will be extended to 26 weeks, while paternity leave will be doubled to one month. And then we are proposing what I believe will be a real game changer—six months paid parental leave which can be used by either the father or the mother. All this leave will be paid at the net pay of the individual, so that there will be no financial difference between staying with your child and going to work and utilising free childcare. Then there will be 28 additional paid days during the first year after returning to work.

My heart always ached when during house visits older women would tell me that they are so happy that us, younger women were getting a better chance than they had been given. They had been stopped from continuing to work and now have to depend on their husband’s pension. They thank me that Labour increased pensions.

Now, I am happy to be able to tell them that a new Labour government will give them their own pension. If their husband had paid more contributions than was required for a full pension, they will now be getting five years’ worth of those excess contributions so that they will get a pension themselves. Our mothers will at last receive their due.

Together with all women candidates on the Labour ticket, for the first time nearly 40% of all party candidates, I am committed to deliver this manifesto for the benefit of all.